Blashill, Davidson looking for youngsters to stand out

Jeff Blashill kicked off his first training camp as the Chicago Blackhawks' head coach with a high-tempo and intense practice. He sent the tone early for his team with two long practices that stressed correct fundamentals.

While Blashill is looking to establish his culture early, he and general manager Kyle Davidson have a lot of evaluating to do over the next two and a half weeks. There is a large group of young players in camp who are looking to make the jump to the National Hockey League. It won’t be easy to decide who is ready for the big time and who needs more time to develop.

Blashill Sets Tone from Very First Whistle

The first day of practice of the 2025-26 season was an intense one. Blashill ran two up-tempo, efficient, and exhausting sessions. Each group spent nearly two hours on the ice, with very few rest periods. There were a lot of players with their hands on their knees throughout the day. Blashill joked that his feet hurt after practice, saying Thursday was his first time on the ice since April.

“Obviously, we’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said. “If we put the work in, good things will happen. Our execution has to get better, but I love the work ethic.”

Blashill said that he told his players over the summer to be ready to work from day one. He wanted them to come into camp in shape and ready to compete. He and his staff have three goals to accomplish during training camp, and they wasted no time in getting that done.

“Number one goal, we want to build a culture,” he said. “Second goal is fundamentals and to make sure our systems are in place. Third goal is to figure out who is in what spots. Today was a lot of the culture side of it. The first practice was solely on winning fundamentals.”

The first day of practice got rave reviews from the locker room. Even though the group was sweaty and out of breath when they got off the ice, they enjoyed the intensity.

“I loved everything about today,” captain Nick Foligno said. “It sets the tone for what Blash and our coaching staff want and the standard we want to have. I thought the guys worked, and they will get better as camp goes on. Away we go.”

Youngsters Need to Find Separation

When you realistically look at the roster, there are three spots available among the forwards. On the back end, after Connor Murphy and Alex Vlasic, the competition is wide open. With so many young players trying to make an impression, Blashill has a simple message on how to stand out.

“You’ve got to be great at what you're great at,” he said. “I’ve asked, as we’ve talked individually to guys, ‘What separates you? How can you make yourself a commodity on this hockey team?’ I think there is a self-reflection that goes on with young hockey players as they come into this league. To me, it’s a case-by-case basis. Ultimately, playing great hockey is how you separate yourself. This is a league where the best are the ones who end up at the top.”

Davidson had a little more analytical answer to how a young player can separate himself from the rest of the pack. After all, it will be a combination of the coaching staff and front office who make the roster decisions for opening night.

“There’s probably a consistency that’s going to be required for a young player to separate themselves from the group,” Davidson said. “There’s a consistency required to perform in this league and to excel in this league. You want to see them get off to a good start in camp and continue that through. I think there’s going to be a lot of evaluation throughout.

“You don’t want to take too much into account early on, and as guys get their feet under them. But those preseason games and the latter part of camp will be very important as we push into actually getting down to numbers and building out this roster for this season. I think it’s going to be that consistency as we go, as guys get their feet under them.”

The first day of training camp set a tone and sent a message to the entire team. Those who want to stick around in Chicago will need to bring that level of intensity every day.